The UK has dealt an expensive blow at Vladimir Putin by breaking free of direct Russian oil imports.
The year before the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine, Britain had bought from Russia £2.9billion worth of refined oil, according to the ONS, making Putin’s country the UK’s primary supplier of refined oil.
Looking at Russian energy imports to the UK as a whole, a research from the House of Commons said four percent of the gas used in the UK, nine percent of oil and 27 percent of coal in 2021 had come from Putin’s nation.
The European Union was also heavily reliant on Russian energy before the war in Ukraine, with Eurostat figures suggesting the bloc imported from Russia 39 percent of its gas, 23 percent of oil and 46 percent of coal in 2020 alone.
In the summer of 2022, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimated that Russia had managed to export more than £79bn worth of fossil fuels in the first 100 days of the war.
The unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine, however, seemingly provided the incentive needed by Western Europe to stop relying on Russian oil and gas.
Indeed, Russia has seen its energy revenues from the British and European markets dropping to nearly zero following the beginning of the war in February two years ago, according to new research on Russia’s direct oil imports to Western Europe led by European energy consultancy Rystad.
This U-turn was almost unimaginable prior to the war in Ukraine, according to Jorge Leon, senior vice president for oil markets at European energy consultancy Rystad.
Mr Leon told the Telegraph: “I think people underestimated how flexible the energy system is.
“Just before the war, just the idea of, we’re going to stop buying oil and gas directly from Russia, would have been crazy. But it has largely happened.”
While the direct imports of oil from Russia have plummeted, Western Europe is still thought to be getting Russian fossil fuels bought from other countries.
To make up for the loss of revenues coming from the European market, in 2022 Russia started selling its oil at a cheaper price to India and China.
After being refined into products like diesel, some of these Russian products have continued to end up in Western nations, including the UK.
Still, Mr Leon believes the overall amount of these purchases is still diminishing, and Europe is looking more and more at Canada, Norway, South America and the US when in need of fossil fuel.
